Oil spray lubricating device



Dec. 17, 1968 e. F. M. HOFFMANN 3,416,489

OIL SPRAY LUBRICATING DEVICE Filed March 29, 1966 2 sheet -sheen 1 mmR G. F. M. HOFFMANN 3,416,489

OIL SPRAY LUBRICATING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0/; PPEIfa/PEFEOM d/L/PEEIJ'U/FED) w Q/AKPEEIFZEFD) Dec. 17, 1968 Filed March 29, 1966 United States Patent 3,416,489 OIL SPRAY LUBRICATING DEVICE Giinter F. M. Hoffmann, Grunstr. 3, Hilden, Germany Filed Mar. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 538,299 9 Claims. (Cl. 118--227) ABSTRACT 01? THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for depositing a film of material on band or sheet stock in which a roller having an absorbent layer is in contact with the surface of the stock and applies the material which is sprayed directly onto the roller. The roller revolves in synchronism with the speed of the stock passing thereby. The rotation of the roller controls a timing device to initiate the beginning of a spray interval and a separately controlled timer is provided for controlling the duration of each spraying interval whereby the thickness of the layer is independent of the speed of the material but is adjustable by means of the timing device.

The invention relates to an oil spray lubricating device for oiling sheet or band material.

The demands of buyers of deep-drawing sheet and band material with regard to the oiling of the material are extremely high. The material must be provided with an absolutely uniform lubricant film, namely a combined corrosion and deep-drawing oil film.

Conventional oiling methods, namely application by dripping or flooding of rubber, steel or felt rollers, combined immersion and squeeze rollers, etc., were not satisfactory and frequently caused complaints by customers.

The problem of the invention is to avoid the disadvantages of the known oiling methods by a new oil spray lubricating device and particularly to construct this device so that an absolutely uniform lubricant film will be applied to the band or sheet.

According to the invention said problem is solved in that an application roller is in contact with the moving band and is adapted to be driven in synchronism therewith, that the spraying device is operated at intervals the duration of which is dependent on the speed of movement of the band and that the duration of the spraying time is maintained constant by means of a timing relay independent of any changes in the speed of the band.

Further advantageous features of the invention reside in the fact that the thickness of the oil film on the band is variable by adjustment of the spraying time on the timing relay and that the spraying device further consists of a plurality of elements distributed over the length of the roller, said elements being adapted to be connected or disconnected individually or in groups according to the width of the band. Preferably, the roller drives a cam disc over a reducing gear, the duration of a revolution of said cam disc being fixed relative to the rate of rotation of the roller. The cam disc actuates once per revolution a switch which operates the spraying device. According to a further advantageous feature of the invention the switch operates on the timing relay influencing the duration of the spraying period.

According to a further advantageous form a spray bar extending over the length of the roller is connected to the spray oil supply line, said spray bar comprising a number of spray nozzles with a solenoid valve associated with each spray nozzle or group of spray nozzles, the opening periods of said solenoid valves being determined by the timing relay.

Preferably, the roller is provided with an oil-absorbent layer to which oil is admitted from the spraying device at intervals. The spraying device is advantageously located 3,416,489 Patented Dec. 17, 1968 "ice diametrically opposite the area of contact between the layer on the roller and the band to be oiled. According to a further form of the invention said layer is a felt layer. This felt shall be relatively hard. It has been found to be very advantageous to form the oil-absorbent layer of a plurality of rings adjoining one another.

Finally, another advantageous form of the invention consists in the fact that for oiling the band on both sides two application rollers driven in synchronism are provided which contact the band on both sides in areas adjoining the plane connecting the axes of the two rollers and that a spraying device is associated with each roller. Both spraying devices can be connected to a common s-pray oil supply line which is fed by a pump. However, if large volumes of oil are to be applied per unit of time, it is advisable to provide a separate oil supply line with a separate pump for each spraying device. According to an advantageous feature of the invention, however, both spraying devices are operable by the same switching relay.

The spray is not applied directly to the band but is applied to felt rollers. Tests have shown that by direct spraying too much oil is applied and no satisfactory oil film is obtained. Optimum results are achieved with steel rollers covered with a layer of very hard felt. The rollers are driven in synchronism with the speed at which the band passes between the rollers. According to a very advantageous modification of the invention the rollers are not imparted a positive drive derived from the drive of the band passing between the rollers but the rollers simply move with the band. Such operation is entirely adequate for various fields of application. It will, of course, require less expenditure. For sheets it will, however, be necessary in any case to provide driven rollers. The control of the entire spraying system is effected from the felt roller. The spraying operation is initiated over a reducing gear including a cam disc and a limit switch and the spraying time is selectively adjusted by means of a clock. The spraying time is adjusted at maximum speed of the band, proceeding on the assumption that after saturation of the felt roller with oil a positive transfer of the oil applied by spraying will take place. As the control is effected from the felt roller, in case of a constant spraying time in dependence on the speed of the band, only the intervals between the spraying periods are positively altered. The advantage of the device according to the invention resides in the fact that the thickness of the oil layer, once selected, will remain constant also in case of changes in the band speed and the oil layer will be applied particularly uniformly.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent upon examination of the following specification and claims, together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the oil spraying device according to the invention in exploded view;

FIG. 2 is an end view in the direction II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of a modified spray oil lubricating device for oiling a band on both sides; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the device according to FIG. 3.

Compressed air of up to about 7 atm. is fed through a filter 10 to a pressure regulator including a manometer 12. The compressed air is fed to a low lift pump 14 which is immersed in an oil tank (not shown). In the pump 14 a flow of oil is produced which is conducted through a hose 16, an oil filter 18 to a spraying device 20.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 the spraying device 20 is disposed above an application roller 22 and extends substantially over the whole length thereof. The application roller 22 is provided with a felt layer 24, which contacts the band 26 to be oiled. Mounted on the shaft 28 of the roller 22 is a pulley which is con nected by means of a V-belt 32 or the like to a reducing gear 34. The reducing gear 34 comprises a cam disc 36 which operates a limit switch 38 once during each revolution. By this mechanical connection a fixed transmission ratio is ensured. The running time of the cam disc 36 per revolution is directly dependent on the number of revolutions of the roller 22 which in turn rotates in synchronism with the speed of the band 26.

The spraying device 20 consists of any number of spraying nozzles 40, each of which is connected in series with a solenoid valve 42. The solenoid valves are actuated by a switch 38 through a timing relay 44. They may be taken out of the circuit individually so that the efiective width of the spraying device 20 is adjustable.

With a given speed of the band the time of revolution of the cam disc 36 is constant clue to the fixed transmission ratio. The transmission ratio is determined with consideration of the maximum speed of the band and is chosen substantially so that the time of one revolution of the cam disc will be three seconds. As the cam disc 36 operates the switch 38 only once for each revolution of the cam, with the given speed of the band the spraying operation is initiated over the time relay 44 every three seconds. The duration of the spraying time, however, may be set on a clock in the timing relay. If, for example, a spraying time of 0.5 second is set on the clock, oil is applied to the felt layer 24 of the roller 22 for 0.5 second during each period of three seconds. Thereby will be produced e.g. a film having a thickness of 1.5 If there is a change in the speed of the band and thereby in the speed of rotation of the application roller, a corresponding change will occur in the duration of the spraying period, i.e. the intervals. That means, when the speed of the band is reduced by 50%, the period between the starting points of two spraying operations will be increased by 100%. The volume of oil delivered per unit of time is thereby reduced by 50%. As a result the thickness of the oil film will remain exactly constant.

A variation of the thickness of the oil film can be effected independently of a variation of the band speed by adjustment of the clock. If the spraying time is raised from 0.5 sec. to 1 sec., the net spraying time per period will be 1 sec. and the interval will be 2 sec. Thereby the amount of oil delivered to the felt layer 24 per unit of time will be doubled, which results in double the thickness of the film applied to the band 26. Thus the thickness of the oil film will be about 3 For a spraying period of 3 sec. the maximum spraying time is about 2.5 sec. so that with this embodiment a film thickness of about 7.5, on the band 26 can be obtained. It is essential that the thickness of the film is infinitely variable or variable in steps by adjustment of the clock, while variations or irregularities in the band feed have no effeet on the thickness of the film and thereby on the uniformity of the film.

The device according to FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrates the oiling of the band 26 on both sides. For this purpose two rollers 22 and 23 are provided which are constructed identically and which each carry a felt layer 24. The felt layers 24 contact the band 26 passing between the rollers on both sides. As in the construction according to FIGS. 1 and 2 the roller 22 is connected to a reducing gear. The roller 23 does not require such a gear as it rotates in synchronism with the roller 22. Like spraying devices 20 are associated with both rollers, the solenoid valves of each spraying device being controlled over a timing relay from the switch 38 of the reducing gear. In this embodiment, too, the effective width of the spraying device 20 is preadjustable by disconnecting the mutually corresponding spraying nozzles of the two spraying devices 20. The device shown ensures an exceptionally equal oiling of the band 26 on both sides, independent of any changes in the speed of the band.

While there has been described herein a preferred embodiment of this invention, it is recognized that many modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the teachings of the invention. It is, therefore, intended to be bound only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for depositing a film of material on hand and sheet stock, comprising an application roller in contact with said moving band adapted to be driven in synchronism therewith, means for spraying said material on said roller, means for initiating the operation of said spraying device at intervals, the frequency of which is dependent on the speed of movement of the band and manually settable means for setting the duration of operation of said spraying device during each interval independent of any changes in the speed of the band.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the spraying device comprises a plurality of elements distributed over the length of the roller, and means for selectively enabling one or more of said elements according to the width of the band.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said initiating means comprises a cam disc driven by said roller through a reducing gear, the duration of a revolution of said cam disc being fixed relative to the rate of rotation of the roller, and a switch actuated once per revolution by said disc which operates the spraying device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said manually settable means comprises a timing relay operable by said switch to influence the spraying time.

5. The apparatus according to laim 1, characterized in that said spraying device comprises a film material supply line, a spray bar extending over the length of the roller connected to said supply line, at least one nozzle connected to said spray bar, and a solenoid valve associated with said spray nozzle, the opening time of said solenoid valve being determined by the timing relay.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the roller is provided with an absorbent layer to which said film material can be admitted from the spraying device at intervals.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the absorbent layer consists of felt.

8. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the roller is provided with an absorbent layer to which said film material can be admitted from the spraying device at intervals.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the absorbent layer consists of felt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,548,261 8/1925 Franz 11737 1,867,594 7/1932 Rowe 118227 2,633,822 4/1953 Watterson 118227 2,909,150 10/1959 Ungerer 118227 2,961,990 11/ 1960 Wruck 118-8 X 3,279,423 10/1966 Russell l188 X WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

R. I. SMITH, Assistant Examiner.

U.S.v Cl. X.R. 118206 

